| Abstract: | An association between doctrinal beliefs and positions on social issues is posited. This study of the clergy in an industrial city demonstrated that doctrinal orthodoxy had an independent effect on positions taken on issues related to social control, personal morality, use of power by the elite, civil liberties, minority rights, and welfare support. Absolutist clergymen with a doctrinally conservative other-worldly focus were reluctant to change society: they supported social control, personal morality, and considerable use of force by the power elite. Evolutionist, this-worldly clergymen who were more doctrinally liberal were open to change and focused more on issues such as civil liberty, minority rights, and welfare support. |
